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Dangerous faith-based mechanics
There are many confirmation biases and magical thinking tendencies that fuel testimonial and anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of woo, from acupuncture and chiropractic all the way up to the giant woo umbrella of “complementary and alternative” medicine (CAM) or “integrative” medicine. But that’s not why these things are a threat to actual real scientific…
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Turns out God doesn’t want dead animals
Jesus died for our sins. Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. As much as that was repeated to me growing up, and as innocently as I believed it, I never really comprehended how it could work. Why should killing God produce any positive effect at all? Wouldn’t that be rather a…
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Squee!!
The blag got listed by erv ! OMGOMG etc 😉
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Risk assessment bias
Another quick redirect; I love this writeup of how we are stupid at risk assessment . I wish a few of the people close to me would learn up on this a bit. The precautionary principle can so easily be abused to the point that it becomes a zero risk bias .
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Why we believe strange things
This is a TED video from 2006, but I just now watched it. Michael Shermer talks about cognitive bias, pareidolia, and other interesting ways we fool ourselves. Michael Shermer at TED.com: Why people believe strange things It’s a delightful 12 minute refutation of stupidity.
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What Science is(n’t)
Stolen from the blinkenlights box : Science is not–I repeat, not–a method for finding out the "truth" about anything. Without going into a great deal of detail, I would characterize science as a methodology that allows us to test our beliefs about how nature behaves with how nature actually behaves and to derive laws and…
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Hearts and minds
As we learn more about how brains work, traditional views can be called into question. Recent research indicates that (at least some) decision-making processes are “prepared” by the brain unconsciously several seconds before there is an awareness of having come to a decision. “In the study, participants could freely decide if they wanted to press…
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A strong influence on the weak mind
The willful manipulation of an audience in propaganda and debate is a depressing fact of life to me. I am interested in full understanding of an issue; best gained by rational discourse, scientific inquiry, and criticism. I am also a fairly rabid supporter of freedom of expression. I am most strongly an advocate of critical…
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“Limits To Growth fallacy”
(Photo credit: RaeA) I was reading an analysis at the Oil Drum about nuclear power use and scaling in France. As usual on TOD, the comments are brimming with insight and impassioned discourse. As a rebuttal to the modest conclusion of the article, one commenter linked to UIC Nuclear Issues Briefing Paper # 75, entitled…
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Purpose
Photo credit: Phil Moore Everyone writes their own story of life. A staggering number of people choose to create a story where meaning comes from an external governor, a deus ex machina. A common conclusion of these folk is that non-theists, lacking this (arbitrary) anchor, must be adrift in life without purpose, moral values, or…